POV: Kael Lanpar
(Unknown location)
Beads of sweat ran down my face like tiny waterfalls; my gasps struck my eardrums and reminded me of the fatigue that overwhelmed me.
Although this place was —or at least should have been— my own mental space, the one I was supposedly able to shape at will, I did not feel at home. I was a stranger in a place where nothing seemed to fit.
My hand trembled as I tightened my grip on the sword's hilt. I felt the veins in my forearm tense, as if the force itself wanted to burst through my skin.
Darkness swallowed everything. An impenetrable mist wrapped around us and, save for the pale light of a bloodied moon, the view was little more than a handful of shadows that offered no clues.
I planted my feet on the thin layer of dark blood that covered the ground and ran with everything I had left.
The sound of liquid splitting echoed through the space. What I fought against had no flesh or bone: they were shapes made from the very blood that soaked the ground.
Humans —or what had once been humans— rose, writhing, and lunged at me. My sword sliced through their outlines and, with each cut, the liquid that formed them splattered my face, clouding my sight and bringing back memories I tried to bury.
With every slash, images of my worst mistakes surfaced; it was as if those beings held all the lives I had taken. I bit my lower lip unconsciously and, by instinct, parried and blocked their attacks, feeling each blow as if it were metal.
"Where from…?" I panted, one hand on my knee. "What the hell are they?"
I thought I might catch my breath after a surge, but more figures crawled up from the ground, slithering through the blood to stand and keep attacking.
Driven by impulse, I lifted my arm toward the darkness and, with a decisive motion, plunged it into the pool of blood at my feet.
From the earth shot multiple spikes of rough, jagged rock, impaling the humanoids in seconds.
My legs trembled. I barely rose, leaning on the sword planted in the ground to keep my balance.
"Everything hurts," I whispered to the darkness, clutching my stomach with a pained grimace.
Before I could allow myself a respite, I turned my head and, in the distance, made out an enigmatic figure holding a scale. He smiled with a sadistic expression that chilled me.
His index finger rose slowly and ended up pointing at me. His hands let go of the scale he had been holding.
The golden object hit the ground with a metallic sound that reverberated through the dimly lit space. And, as if it were an order, the place changed out of nowhere.
The ground shook; torn chunks of earth rose into platforms that shot toward the sky, like grotesque brushstrokes on the bizarre painting of death that was the firmament.
"Your blood will mingle with all that you have shed," he said in a voice that made me shudder.
My feet stepped back on instinct when the strangely childlike voice reached my ears and stirred an unfamiliar feeling in me.
The grinding of my teeth snapped me back into action; I mocked fear in an instant.
"You will be the only one to bleed out," I snapped maliciously. "I'll send you where you belong."
Adrenaline coursed through my body. Maniacally, I lunged at my enemy; there was no time to think. My arms rose and the sword, in a swift arc, sought his neck.
Before anyone could react, our weapons clashed. The edge of my blade threw sparks from rubbing against that sacred weapon that stopped my attack.
My gaze burned as I stared him directly in the eyes, but the surge of momentum faded within seconds.
It was only a question, but one strong enough to make my arms weaken and my guard drop for a few seconds.
"Did you love them?" he asked with a calm I could not understand.
The slight tremor in my lips answered for me in the silence that had seized the place.
With eyes wide and not fully understanding what was happening, the being who had promised me death gripped the blade of his sword tightly. He guided my hand —still clutching the hilt of my weapon— toward his heart.
The metallic scent faded; I felt the sword pierce flesh and, for a moment, I saw that judge —my enemy only seconds before— form a smile: faint, fractured, and strangely sincere.
"You are not a monster, and you never were," he whispered, pressing his forehead to mine. "Life does not judge… it's our emotions that turn us into what we fear most."
For some reason his words gave me a warmth I had been searching for. I let that calm carry me; I copied a smile like his and closed my eyes, sinking for a few seconds into the peace I had longed for.
His life ebbed away. His body, once bathed in gold, split into sparks that took the shape of white butterflies. With every flutter, those lights began to illuminate the place.
As his figure faded, my mental space recovered the life it had lost. Darkness yielded to a bright, radiant white that reclaimed the surroundings.
The beings that had attacked me dissolved, becoming liquid again; the blood sank into the ethereal earth and white trees sprouted from it.
When I blinked, I felt a hand brush my cheek with a tenderness that broke my chest.
I lifted my hand and touched the pallor of the vanished being's skin. I let him go: his particles rose into the air and dispersed throughout the place.
My body collapsed onto the cool grass, which shared the same snow-white color as everything else. My eyes rested on the moon, still visible but now diminished.
A new moon crossed the sky; its characteristic red glowed with less opacity than before.
I sighed, trying to follow with my gaze the dancing butterfly-figures that eclipsed the terror the blood-stained moon had once projected. They were beautiful; they were pure.
The sensation of returning to reality washed over me. My mind warned me I was waking from unconsciousness.
With forced slowness I closed my eyes again and let sleep take me, carrying me back home.
(In reality)
The first thing I heard when I came back was my own breathing, calmer this time, and the voices of my mother and sister that brought me fully to my senses.
I shaded my eyes from the sun's glare and signaled that I was awake. I felt the damp earth beneath my body: we were in the Luzarion Forest. I groped for the memory of why I had ended up there.
I had wanted more time to rest and process what I had experienced, but my mother's insistence on unlocking my mana core would not allow it.
Her words did not sound like an order; they sounded like a plea, a thread of barely concealed fear that only I could perceive. Each sentence ate at her from the inside.
Two months had already passed since what happened, and even now, just thinking about it, I feel the pain burning in my chest.
Propping myself on my elbows, I sat up and, looking up, found my companions' worried faces.
Behind them, the leaves of the trees danced in the cool wind that brushed my skin and returned enough calm for me to ask what had happened.
Around us opened a crater where I had been sitting: toppled trees and torn earth lay scattered. Chaos that, in all likelihood, I had caused.
"What just happened?" I asked, confused. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Neither of them spoke; it seemed they could not find the words. I watched my mother compose herself and, with effort, say something that left me even more bewildered.
"Son, you just awakened your core," she said, swallowing.
I could not understand why that would make her like that. If it was supposed to be what I had to do, what was all the fuss about? Her next sentence made everything clear.
"You possess the five primary elements," she added with a hint of excitement. "You are a Fifth Elemental, the first in Mayora's history."
"Wow, that's incredible," I said, scratching my head.
My comment seemed like an insult to my sister; before she could react I felt a light blow to my head and her shout filled the clearing like a megaphone.
"What are you saying, Kael?" she said, astonished. "You are the first human —not to mention the first living being— to possess this kind of power."
Rubbing the bump that had formed on my head, I looked down and saw, as if through glass, five luminous rings of different elements encircling my forearm.
They were elemental particles visible only to the bearer; that majestic power now covering much of my arm shone with an unmatched grandeur.
"Is this bad?" I asked, with some worry. "If there are no records of anyone possessing all five elements, how do I know nothing will happen to me?"
"Sadly, we don't know, little brother," Mayrei said in a subdued voice. "Our parents and I are Fourth Elementals; you're the first to reach this."
My unease rested on tangible sensations: a strange exhaustion filled my body despite having done no physical labor. It was the first time fatigue from my mental space had leaked into reality — a strange jolt, as if my body refused to continue even though I hadn't moved a muscle.
Before I could probe further, everything changed at once. A distant explosion thundered, followed by gusts of wind and a faint tremor that reached us.
A cloud of fire and dust rose over my home. It was an ambiguous impact that, for an instant, returned me to an image from my past.
As if I were reincarnating into my former life, I saw myself bearing the impotence of having witnessed a massacre and being unable to do anything. Holding the weapon, I could only watch the blast mingle with the screams of people trying to flee.
Illusion and reality braided together: the shockwave ruffled my hair; my arms and legs hesitated, frozen by indecision. Everything was confused.
"Children, keep away from the area," my mother ordered.
The air began to condense into tiny particles that embedded themselves in my mother's clothes and skin, forming a gleaming crystal armor.
"Mother, I have to help," Mayrei replied. "They're attacking us."
A single look from our mother was enough for my sister to understand it wasn't an option. She moved closer, wrapped her arms around me, and hugged me with a fierce, protective grip.
I felt her hold tighten with anger, as if she blamed me for my inability to intervene.
When I saw my mother stride away through the trees, an urgency to help overwhelmed me. I broke free from Mayrei's embrace and, without thinking, channeled mana into my feet: the wind pushed me and I began to run.
"Kael, where are you going?" Mayrei shouted. "Damn it, to hell with this!"
With my gaze fixed on the objective, I kept running across the ground, while my sister moved along the branches beside me. I refused to be a spectator again.
Not now. I will never waste the chance to save someone. I failed in my past life; this time will be different.
It is a promise.